SAN BERNARDINO - The City Council's final regularly scheduled meeting of 2012 features a few decisions that could affect 2013 and beyond.

On the agenda for today's 3 p.m. meeting at City Hall:

  • Approval of a five-year contract with Burrtec and Republic to handle the city's trash, green waste and recyclables.

    The contract is intended to replace a more expensive contract with the county that expired Sunday.

    The county is seeking to sue the city over more than $2 million it calculates the city owes for landfill fees. Those payments would ruin the city, officials say, but county representatives say they have an obligation to recover taxpayer money.

    Council members had sought to modify the contract with Burrtec so they could bow out with 12 months' notice if better options came along. Both companies said that wouldn't work because pricing was based on a five-year contract, but they added a provision allowing the city to use any new technologies developed before the contract expires.

  • Seting a public hearing for Feb. 18 about increased rates for the Integrated Waste.

    The council hasn't implemented consumer price index increases that it could have since 2008, meaning rates could go up 9.8percent.

    The council considered this item at its Dec. 3 meeting, with some council members describing it as a common-sense measure that would mean only an increase of "pennies" for most customers but City Attorney James

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    F. Penman strongly opposed it.

    "That's a wonderful way to circumvent your responsibility to approve rate increases," Penman said Dec. 3 of the provision for "automatic" increases as other costs go up. "In light of the bankruptcy and everything else that's going on, yes, I've got a real problem with this."

  • Changing of temporary use guidelines. A proposed amendment would refer to "special event permits" rather than "temporary use permits" for events with more than 100 people, and for smaller gatherings would add what city staffers call simpler definitions and requirements for fundraising car washes, food truck events and certified farmers markets.

  • Renewal of contract with Platinum Security Inc. as security guards for the Feldheym Central Library and the Metrolink Station, for up to $95,000 per year. The contract would last three years.

  • Allowing a citizen committee to clean and repair the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in front of City Hall and to raise money for that purpose. The San Bernardino Black Cultural Foundation would collect donations, with no anticipated cost to the city.

    The committee estimates that restoring the 31-year-old statue will cost $8,500, plus $1,500 a year in annual maintenance.

    Reach Ryan via email, or call him at 909-386-3916.